Improvement in railway transfer-tables



a c. HATHAWAY.

RAILWAY TRANSFER-TABLE. No.17'1,726. Patented Jan.4,1876.

x i u 1i i 4 i 5 1 i I :a g x 4 N. PETERS. PHOTOLITHOGRAPMER. WASHINGTON. D C.

' UNIT STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES HATHAWAY, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO.

,IMPROVEMENT IN RAILWAY TRANSFER-TABLES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 171,726, dated January 4,1876; application filed September 21, 1875.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, CHARLES HATHAWAY, of Cleveland, Ohio, have invented an Improve ment in the Mode of Operating Railway Transfer-Tables, of which the following is a specification: t

A great inconvenience has heretofore been experienced in railroad-yards and carhouses,

where transfer-tables have been employed for removing cars laterally from one track to another, in consequence of the pit in which such tables have been universally made to operate.

These pits are of such a depth that they wholly consume valuable space, which can be used for no other purpose than for moving to andtwo ordinary railroad-tracks, A A A A, intersected by the track as a; new of a transfer-table c Fig. 2, a longitudinal vertical section of my transfer-table carrying a car; Fig. 3, a vertical cross-section of the transfer-table carrying a car; and Fig. 4 is a plan of a transfer-table.

I construct the track a: w a; w of the transfertable across the main track, as shown in Fig. 1, and in such manner that there shall be, at the intersections of the rails, clear openings in the rails'of the main track of sufficient width to allow the free passage of the transfer-table wheels, togetherwith the transfer-table truck-irons C, or equivalent parts. (Shown in Figs. 2 and 3.) In order to provide for the free movement of the body of the transfer-table across the main track, those parts of the latter, b b b 11, between the intersections are placedabout from half an inch to an inch lower than the rails a a a a, outside of the intersections.

The transfer-table may be constructed in any manner, of wood or iron, or of both combined,

that will insure sufficient strength to support the cars to be transferred; but care must be taken to have the rails on the floor of the ta-- ble so nearly corresponding in height with those of the main track that cars may be easily run from the main track upon the table, While at the same time the floor of the table should have suitable thickness for strength. I have found in practice that these conditions are fully complied with by placingthe rails on the table from half an inch to an inch higher than those of the main track.

' It is obvious that the. main connections between the axles of the table, or What I have denominated the truck-irons 0, should be depressed in their central parts below the rails of the main track, so as to form no obstruction in the passage of a car from the main track to the table. Fig. 4 shows the details of a transfer-table which, in practice, answers the purpose of my invention.

It is plain. that where great strength is needed, for the transfer of locomotives and other heavy cars, the table should have more wheels and truck-irons than are here shown, with corresponding additional rails to run on.

It will be seen from the foregoing statement that in lieu of the usual and ordinary pit, heretofore consideredindispensable for operating a transfer-table, I substitute, by my invention, the slight depressionshown and described at a a a 0b, which allows the free passage of cars along the main track when the table is removed, and the inconveniences and dangers of a pit are thus avoided.

It will be seen, furthermore, that all the rails are fixed at permanent unchanging levels, and consequently no machinery is required to elevate or depress any of them.

I am aware of the English patents of Dunn, No. 1l,934, of 1847, and No. 221, of 1860, and

I do not claim anyinvention claimed or described in either of said patents; but

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

In combination with two or more railroadtracks and a depressed transverse track, a; w, a transfer-table adapted to move on said transverse track, carrying a movable section of the main tracks, supported by the truckirons C C, all constructed, combined, and arranged to operate substantially as described.

CHARLES HATHAWAY. 

